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A Self-Applicable supercompiler

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Partial Evaluation

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1110))

Abstract

A supercompiler is a program which can perform a deep transformation of programs using a principle which is similar to partial evaluation, and can be referred to as metacomputation. Supercompilers that have been in existence up to now (see [12], [13]) were not self-applicable: this is a more difficult problem than self-application of a partial evaluator, because of the more intricate logic of supercompilation. In the present paper we describe the first self-applicable model of a supercompiler and present some tests. Three features distinguish it from the previous models and make self-application possible: (1) The input language is a subset of Refal which we refer to as flat Refal. (2) The process of driving is performed as a transformation of pattern-matching graphs. (3) Metasystem jumps are implemented, which allows the supercompiler to avoid interpretation whenever direct computation is possible.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programming Systems Institute, Pereslavl-Zalesski, Russia

    Andrei P. Nemytykh & Victoria A. Pinchuk

  2. The City College of New York, USA

    Valentin F. Turchin

Authors
  1. Andrei P. Nemytykh
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  2. Victoria A. Pinchuk
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  3. Valentin F. Turchin
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Editor information

Olivier Danvy Robert Glück Peter Thiemann

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Nemytykh, A.P., Pinchuk, V.A., Turchin, V.F. (1996). A Self-Applicable supercompiler. In: Danvy, O., Glück, R., Thiemann, P. (eds) Partial Evaluation. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1110. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61580-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61580-6_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-61580-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-70589-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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